But as riveting as the first hour of season 15 will be (and trust us, you're going to be white-knuckling the arms of your couch), the writers fortunately saw fit to give fans a little bit of a breather from the intensity. In a clip that NBC is sharing first with TODAY, the "SVU" gang offers a little bit of office humor before their day turns to hell.

As is often the case, the chuckles come courtesy of Munch (Richard Belzer), who tries to boost office morale by — what else? — guilt-tripping Det. Amaro (Danny Pino) into coughing up for some very expensive coffee.

Laugh now, because when the action starts, there's no stopping for air until the credits roll.